WHAT'S THE MEANING

Espionage or more commonly known as spying is the act of obtaining and gathering sensitive or confidential information through illicit means, usually, through the use of agents specialized in the art called spies or with monitoring devices.

DID YOU KNOW?

Early forms of intelligence gathering and assessment dates back to ancient China where the teachings of the philosopher, Sun Tzu, greatly influenced Asian military thinking and strategy. The 18th century was a time of war and saw a huge increase in espionage activities. During the American Revolution, General George Washington developed a successful espionage system to detect British locations and plans. The war with France saw Britain build a wide network of agents and funded local elements trying to overthrow governments hostile to its country. The prevalence of espionage during the 19th century gave way to counter-espionage that aimed to identify Confederate spies during the American Civil War.

The 20th century saw the refinement and further development of espionage and counterintelligence techniques from all major powers spanning the first world war all the way to the aftermath of the Cold War. The biggest oversight in the history of espionage was during the Iraq War back in 2003 when the U.S. and British acquired intelligence suggesting that the Iraq government was developing weapons of mass destruction when in fact, it was just a ploy to deter any kind of attack but unfortunately, it was for this exact reason why an attack on their soil happened anyway.